Ocean State Libraries

"A scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler ... but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye." -- "Irene, an eccentric, wealthy Manhattanite, wins a society-ball scavenger hunt after finding a "forgotten man"-- an apparent down-and-out drifter-- at a dump. She gives him work as the family butler and soon falls head over heels for him. Her attempts to both woo Godfrey and indoctrinate him in the household's dysfunction make for...

Tells the story of ordinary people in four quintessentially American towns - Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota - and examines the ways in which the Second World War touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America.

Working as a correspondent for 20/20 and Good Morning America, John Stossel confronted dozens of scam artists: from hacks who worked out of their basements to some of America's most powerful executives and leading politicians. His efforts shut down countless crooks both famous and obscure. Then he realized what the real problem was. In Give Me a Break, Stossel takes on the regulators, lawyers, and politicians who thrive on our hysteria about risk...

Examines Wal-Mart's importation of Chinese goods into the United States. Discusses that while some economists credit Wal-Mart's focus on low costs with helping contain U.S. inflation, others charge that the company is the main force driving the massive overseas shift to China in the production of American consumer goods, resulting in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs and a lower standard of living in the U.S.

The first definitive, unauthorized, behind-the-scenes cultural history of the Bachelor franchise, America's favorite guilty pleasure. For fifteen years and thirty-five seasons, the Bachelor franchise has been a mainstay in American TV viewers' lives. Since it premiered in 2002, the show's popularity and relevance has only grown-more than eight million viewers tuned in to see the conclusion of the most recent season of The Bachelor. The iconic reality...

"In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows, first on premium cable channels like HBO and then basic cable networks like FX and AMC, dramatically stretched television's narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and artistic ambition. No longer necessarily concerned with creating always-likable characters,...

A total departure from previous writing about television, this book is the first ever to advocate that the medium is not reformable. Its problems are inherent in the technology itself and are so dangerous—to personal health and sanity, to the environment, and to democratic processes—that TV ought to be eliminated forever.

Weaving personal experiences through meticulous research, the author ranges widely over aspects of television

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"Alyssa Milano, actress and activist, writes a collection of powerful personal essays that get to the heart of her life, career, and all-out humanitarianism. These essays will cover urgent topics of unity, communication, and treating all people the right way, a timely book that shows the importance of taking care of others. Milano has become one of the most visible, hard-working humanitarians we have. A bestselling children's book author, here she's...

"A sociological study of reality TV that explores its rise as a culture-dominating medium-and what the genre reveals about our attitudes toward race, gender, class, and sexuality"--